The Fisherman's Village, perched on the southernmost tip of the eastern continent, stood as a remote outpost. True to its name, the villagers lived and breathed the life of a fisherman, their existence intertwined with the sea.

They are currently in the off-season, and the village is calm. From the cold months of autumn to early spring, the village's activities come to a halt.

An old man was sleeping in the basement of the Village Chief's house. However, it was more than just a basement; it was a cavern formed from a dead coral reef. The cavern was large and sturdy enough to support the two-story structure of the Village Chief's house above.

The waves that were beaching in the walls of the cavern were gentle but it was enough to revive the hearing of the old man. He slowly opened his eyes, he was actually surprised that he was still alive. As his mind slowly returned fully he remembered the boy that was always beside him.

“Simon!!” the old man screamed.

Four figures immediately went down into the basement. It was the Black Hood, a Pam identified by her uniform, the village chief, and his wife.

“Sir Alphecca, how do you feel? Does anything hurt?” the Pam was concerned with his health. She began checking the old man’s eyes and placed her hand on his shoulders to scan him with magic.

“I’m okay, where is that idiot?” the old man asked as he stared to the people that answered his cry.

“And we thought you would never wake up!” the village chief asked.

The old man stared at the Black Hood but he knew that it was not the one he knew of. “Black Hood! Where is the boy?” but he was sure he had the information he wanted to know, that’s how it usually works.

“He is not here, I will go to him personally, we will be back two days from now,” the Black Hood answered like clockwork then stared into his eyes. “You are not going to live that long anymore,” the Black Hood did his own assessment with just a look.

The Pam stared and glared at him.

“No problem, I’ve already known it for a long time, Urgh!! Stop it!” the old man muttered as his head began to hurt as hell, the Pam removed her hand.

The Pam stared directly at the old man’s face “The magic stone that is in your brain became more larger, every time you use magic or even channel magic to any part of your body it will react like that,” the Pam said.

The old man just smiled at her. “Can anybody tell how we made it here? How long has it passed since I was asleep?”

The four had a face of surprise widening their eyes in the old man’s query. The one who immediately answered was the village chief.

“You weren't just asleep,-” the village chief said, his face grave. “-You've been in a coma for three years!”

The old man’s facade cracked, losing three years was big. “Where is the boy then, what has been happening?” the old man was noticeably in a hurry to know the answers.

“Alphecca… does the boy feel anything when it kills?” the Village Chief asked the old man. It awakened the old man’s mind and he began to worry about the boy.

“Since he was little he never felt remorse about killing anything at all, especially for the sake of food… he would never eat humans though,” the old man said as a matter of fact. The old man remembered some things back in the mountain shack. He was really glad that he taught Simon how to cook early on.

The Village Chief's face paled aghast.

“What’s the matter?” the old man immediately noticed that there was something wrong.

“He is currently on a wanted list he killed two nobles that were visiting the village,” it was the Black Hood who answered. “And he has been hunted, this had been going on for the past few years.”

The old man smiled, those who hunted the boy must be already 6 feet underground. “Isn’t it getting cold already,” the old man muttered. Winter must be already around the corner.

<--->

Years ago, strangers arrived at Fisherman's Village. A young boy, not even struggling under the weight, carried an elderly man on his back. The village, lacking any imposing fortifications, was encircled by modest wooden walls that barely reached the height of an average person.

At that time, two nobles from the central region attempted to hijack the next voyage of the fishing vessels, intending to charter them and monopolize their catch. Seafood was considered a delicacy throughout the entire realm, and Fisherman's Village, located on the eastern frontier, was the largest supplier.

They blocked any passage going inside the village, it was in a form of harassment to their side, and that harassment had been going on for months, the Fisherman’s Village was in a remotely far place and it was easy to block all the attempts to ask for help.

Not only that the Village would suffer for their food supply but also their next trip would be jeopardized since they couldn’t collect or trade supplies in preparation for the trip. The nobles knew of it and were taking advantage of it to put more pressure on them.

That midday the boy arrived, knights in the village that were guarding the road tried to block him.

“I need help…” the boy said.

He was rugged, with streaks of blood smeared across his back. His strength was undeniable, for while carrying the elderly man, he also bore a hefty bag. The old man perched atop the bag, securely fastened with branches and ropes, transforming the boy into a living, moving chair.

The knight tried to intimidate the boy by drawing his sword.

“Leave!” as the knight pointed his sword to the boy.

Now that he was closer, he noticed that the boy was blind. He felt pity but only for a moment. The knight used his hands to summon another knight closer.

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“An old man and a child… that’s pitiful, this is the frontiers, killing them would be a much better mercy,” the knight that approached said, he was not wearing his helmet, it was a sign of his experience or probably overconfidence.

“Kill them?” To his surprise, the much more veteran knight suggested a brutal solution.

“Look at him, do you think he will survive? We are ordered not to let anyone inside and sending him back after he had gotten so far would be brutal… we will bury them properly,” the veteran added.

In a reaction, the boy placed down the bag with the old man, and he took one of the sticks that helped with the balance of the old man.

The two knights felt pity but what surprised them was that the boy rushed into an attack. The younger knight who already had his sword drawn out tried to block it.

He was wearing full armor as per the requirement of the noble, still his hand broke and his own armor punctured his head instantly dying on his feet as he fell down like a puppet. The boy literally denied the block by hitting the arms of the knight before he successfully guarded and then landed a blow on the knight’s helmet. All was done with a stick.

The veteran knight was confused about what he saw as he tried to draw his sword too. “Shit!” he said he should have worn his helmet, the stick entered through his eye, and he instantly died too.

The boy could sense that there were three more knights inside the village, he checked at the old man and then rushed inside.

…

The village chief of the Fisherman’s Village was threatened inside his own house, two cocky nobles pointed their sword at him to intimidate the man.

“Give us your word! Sign the damned contract!” the noble said.

Still, the man was persistent. The nobles of the centrals were untouchable, killing one would be a big problem, the government had many loopholes that could be abused and these nobles knew of it.

The noble glared at the old man, he was of the house of Faramis, another big shot in the central, “Bring her in!” he didn’t want to do these kinds of things but his father forced him to do it.

His brother went down from the second floor with a nervous smile as another knight dragged the wife of the village chief.

“You goddamn assholes!” the village chief muttered in disgust.

“Then just sign it! You should have complied immediately when we were still asking you nicely!” the noble said.

The village remembered how these noble boys paraded their authority and threatened them, if that was asking nicely then these boys knew nothing.

They were currently at the main hall of the village chief’s house, it was the first floor of the house. The village chief looked around, the nobles really did a number on him. There was still a hidden sword on the back of his drawer and a grappling hook on the second floor.

The village chief was ready to die as he breathed in putting clarity to what he was about to do. Then suddenly they heard something outside, the village chief remembered that he ordered the village to stay at their home to not be caught up with the noble’s scheme.

The door opened it was a boy. The village chief was unfamiliar with him.

“Kill that boy!!” in annoyance at the disruption of his negotiation the noble screamed. There should still be two knights stationed just outside, it seemed that he failed to wonder how the boy arrived in front of the house.

His brother took the village chief’s wife as the knight followed the command to attack, the noble clicked his tongue as the menial task of holding a commoner was passed to him.

The boy reached to his right, it seemed that he had a bag there, it was a bloody wooden stick.

“Sorry boy!” the knight said, it was not his job to kill innocent lives but he was ordered to.

The two nobles smiled as they watched the knight land a strike on the boy, the boy was probably cleaved into two.

“The old man said, beware of magic users…” It was the boy’s voice and the knight collapsed to the ground. A vertical dent on his helmet and blood pouring out of it.

“Brother! What is happening?-” Then a wooden stick punctured the neck of the noble who was holding the wife “-Agck!” the boy pushed through the neck scattering red on the air.

The last noble pointed his sword but it was already too late, he should have used magic immediately. He fell down as his knee bent in a strange way, the amount of adrenaline his brain was pumping was not enough to make him stop from screaming in pain.

The wife immediately ran to his husband and the two hugged each other. They were both confused about what was happening.

The boy landed a blow on the noble’s head totally mushing it into pieces.

The boy then looked at the wife and the village chief. “I need help please…” was his words. He opened his eyes and it was snake eyes.

…

Wide burns on his back, some lacerations on his arms, and an unexplainable reason why his magic was totally oozing out of his every pore.

The wife of the chief did everything that she could but it had limits, they were treating the old man on the lower floor of the Village Chief's house, and the boy was just on a side watching the struggle.

The other villagers were now cleaning up the bloody mess in the village as per the chief’s orders. He already sent some of the villagers to message the nearest adventure guild which was located in the Farm Lands, the village chief mourned that he didn’t allow the installation of messenger birds.

As the old man was in a better state the village chief went close to the boy.

“What is your name boy?” he asked, still terrified about what the boy did earlier.

“Simon… is the old man okay?” the boy asked, his eyes were closed as they were making the conversation, the chief could understand why he was keeping his eyes closed.

“We are going to ask for help, he is not yet that stable but he will survive,-” Then the chief knelt in front of the boy “-You have to leave the village for now, they will be investigating since a noble’s blood is spilled here, we will take care of the old man.” the village chief said apologetically.

“Hon! His just a boy!-” the village chief’s wife complained. “-And it's already dark outside!”

Still, the boy stood up. “Thank you… I will just be around,” the boy said and after one more look at the face of the old man, “I’ll be staying at the forest, near the Sun God Peak… also it's already gone,” then he began to go up of the basement.

…

As Simon walked out of the village chief’s house, the sudden light blinded him, forcing him awake from the dream.

<--->

Back to the Abyss.

Simon opened his eyes. His eyes could see in the dark the ceiling of the abyss and thought it was the sky. It glittered for the ones that could see in the dark. To his surprise, there was a source of light near him.

He turned his head to take a look around him, it was the madman who seemed to doing something that he enjoyed.

“Simon! My boy! Good morning! How’s life?!” the mad man said without stopping his work, he was drawing lines of magic circles and symbols, some were words that Simon understood but everything didn’t make sense.

The boy glared a bit, he couldn’t tell if the madman was mocking him or what.

“Hey, actually while you were asleep, a denizen, I mean a friend of mine, now, wanted to know you more!” Jubaic said, snapping his fingers and all of the lines and symbols disappeared. “I introduce you to the queen of the Jumas, Lady Diamelle Gemstone!”

With just one look, Simon could tell that the woman who appeared in front of him was not human, she had a cover of cloth on her face covering her nose and mouth. She wore a simple Beledi type of dress, it was made of silver-like fabric. With a feature of a V-neck line and articles of diamonds decorated on her chest. She was ‘beautiful Simon thought.

“My name is Dianna Gemstone, the diamond of the Caneon Kingdom, the queen of the Juma, the…” but before she continued on Jubaic jumped in front of her.

“My queen, we will not finish the day and you will still be stating your titles can we move on?!” Jubaic was rude but the queen didn’t care about it at all.

“Of course, sorry, just call me Dianna or Diane,” she said and made a courtesy bow.

“Simon! My boy! She is a master of controlling magic, she could help you in your training!” Jubaic said clapping his hands.

“Uhm… sir Jubaic, the exchange please, tell him what I want!” Dianna or Diane bashfully urged Jubaic. The madman sighed, the queen was really shy.

“She is bored so she wants to hear your stories how about that?” Jubaic said making a funny gesture and pointing to the queen.

“Sir Jubaic! I’m a Gemstone! I never get bored! Waiting is my specialty!” Dianna complained as she stomped her feet.

Simon sighed, it seemed that he met another weirdo in the abyss.